ZA003 is the last of four Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered test aircraft, and the fourth of a total of six in the 3,100h test flight campaign expected to culminate in delivery of the first 787 to Japan's All Nippon Airways in the fourth quarter.

Boeing kicked off its flight test programme on 15 December 2009, when ZA001 made its maiden sortie.

RC522, which is the last of three 747-8F test aircraft built, but the second to fly, was flown by Captains Kirk Vining and Rick Braun and reached an altitude of 27,000ft and an airspeed of 240kt and touched down at 18:25 PDT (2:25 GMT) after a 2h and 27min flight.

RC501, the first 747-8F, made its first flight on 8 February and completed its initial airworthiness testing on 11 March.

"The airplane performed well on its first flight," Andy Hammer, Boeing test programme manager for 747-8, says in a statement. "It was a good start to a demanding flight-test program for this airplane."

The aircraft will eventually be delivered to Nippon Cargo Airlines following the flight test programme, which will see RC522 focusing on community noise, environmental control systems and extended operations performance standards.